Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opens investigation into Broward County Public Schools' technology contracts
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office will investigate how Broward County Public Schools pursued technology contracts after a Broward County inspector general report accused district employees of mismanaging the bidding process and misleading the school board.
Uthmeier announced the review in a Wednesday post on X, where he linked to coverage of a report released last week by the Broward County Office of Inspector General.
"We raised concerns regarding this process last year, and the IG's report failed to alleviate those concerns," Uthmeier wrote. "We plan to investigate this further."
The inspector general's report accused several district employees of mismanaging the bidding process and misleading the board. It also accused one employee of steering business to a vendor and one vendor of submitting false information to win a district contract. All of those accused have denied wrongdoing.
The Office of Inspector General referred the report to the Broward State Attorney's Office. Uthmeier's announcement means the state review could proceed while the local referral remains open.
Paula McMahon, a spokeswoman for Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor, said prosecutors from both agencies plan to communicate on the matter.
"We are always open to collaborating and working with the State Attorney General's Office on this pending investigation," McMahon said.
Howard Hepburn, superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, said the district is taking the findings seriously.
"BCPS takes the OIG findings extremely seriously and is moving swiftly to take appropriate action," Hepburn said in a statement. "BCPS will fully cooperate with any investigation, and all findings will be met with similar immediate action."
The attorney general's review will examine the district's efforts to secure technology contracts, including bidding problems identified in the report. The report did not say which contracts were affected or identify the employees and vendor by name.
Prosecutors from the Attorney General's Office and the Broward State Attorney's Office plan to communicate about the investigation.
